Democrats' victory to boost carbon trade

A Democratic victory in the mid-term US elections is good news for green energies, but not necessarily for big oil, writes David Watkins

With the Democratic Party set to take over US Congress and Senate in January, considerable repercussions for the energy industry are expected.

This is perhaps best symbolised by the replacement of the Senate's Republican environmental public works committee chairman James Inhofe with the Californian Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Inhofe famously described global warming as "the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people" and called for the abolition of the Environmental Protection Agency. Boxer